Sweden’s parliament has passed a law lowering the minimum age to legally change gender from 18 to 16 and making it easier to get access to surgical interventions.
The law passed with 234 votes in favour and 94 against in Sweden’s 349-seat parliament.
While the Nordic country was the first to introduce legal gender reassignment in 1972, the new proposal, aimed at allowing self-identification and simplifying the procedure, sparked an intense debate in the country.
The center-right coalition of the conservative prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, has been split on the issue, with his own Moderates and the Liberals largely supporting the law while the smaller Christian Democrats were against it.
The Sweden Democrats, the populist party with far-right roots that support the government in parliament but are not part of the government, also opposed it.
“The great majority of Swedes will never notice that the law has changed, but for a number of transgender people the new law makes a large and important difference,” Johan Hultberg, an MP representing the ruling conservative Moderate party, told parliament.
Beyond lowering the age, the new legislation is aimed at making it simpler for a person to change their legal gender.
“The process today is very long, it can take up to seven years to change your legal gender in Sweden,” Peter Sidlund Ponkala, president of the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Rights (RFSL), told AFP.
Two new laws will go into force on 1 July 2025: one regulating surgical procedures to change gender, and one regulating the administrative procedure to change legal gender in the official register.
People will be able to change their legal gender at 16, though those under 18 will need the approval of their parents, a doctor and the National Board of Health and Welfare.
A diagnosis of “gender dysphoria” – where a person may experience distress as a result of a mismatch between their biological sex and the gender they identify as – will no longer be required.
Surgical procedures to transition would be allowed from the age of 18, but would no longer require the board’s approval. The removal of ovaries or testes will only be allowed from the age of 23, unchanged from today.
Denmark, Norway, Finland and Spain are among countries that already have similar laws.
Last Friday German lawmakers approved similar legislation, making it easier for transgender, intersex and non-binary people to change their name and gender in official records directly at register offices.
In the UK, the Scottish parliament in 2022 passed a bill allowing people aged 16 or older to change their gender designation on identity documents by self-declaration. It was blocked by the British government, a decision that Scotland’s highest civil court upheld in December.
The legislation set Scotland apart from the rest of the UK, where the minimum age is 18 and a medical diagnosis is required.
Citing a need for caution, Swedish authorities decided in 2022 to halt hormone therapy for minors except in very rare cases, and ruled that mastectomies for teenage girls wanting to transition should be limited to a research setting.
Sweden has seen a sharp rise in gender dysphoria cases. This is particularly visible among 13- to 17-year-olds born female, with an increase of 1,500% since 2008, according to the Board of Health and Welfare.
While tolerance for gender transition has long been high in the progressive and liberal country, political parties across the board have been torn by internal divisions over the new proposal.
A poll published this week suggested almost 60% of Swedes oppose the proposal, while only 22% back it.
In a sign of the strong feelings it stirred, members of parliament spent six hours debating the proposal.